Those Who Fight For The Sake Of Freedom
by Night Fury Guardian
Summary: So this is my rewritten SnK OC fic. I hope it's as good as the original! Eren X OC
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:**__ So my original story, __**Those Who Fight For The Sake of Freedom,**__ as well as a couple of my other stories, was removed from Fanfic due to its material. But fortunately, I was planning to rewrite anyway. _

_The beginning of this is different than my first one, but hopefully I can make this one seem more...I don't know...more SnK than my original? LOL XD._

_The reason I'm rewriting this is because I didn't save most of my original chapters (because I'm a fool). But I hope that you'll enjoy this once as much as the original one._

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><p><strong><em>Rachel's P.O.V.<em>**

_Death was all around me._

_I walked all alone, holding the place where my arm had been bitten off to try and staunch the blood flow. I knew that I didn't have much longer to live._

_Everywhere I looked, I recognized a face. All of them. Their dead faces seemed to watch me as I hobbled past them, trying to find a way out of here. It was hopeless, but I had to try._

_A rustle of leaves caught my attention. Surely, a titan was coming to finish me off. As it shold, because I had failed to protect what little family I had had left in the world. I waited for it to jump out and attack. _

_Suddenly, a boy a year or two older than me was in front of me, his brown eyes locked onto me. He said my name in a calm, steady voice._

_'Rachel...'_

_Who was he? I had never seen him before in my life. Still, despite not knowing him, it was my duty as a soldier to protect him. I limped forward, removing my bloodied hand to reach for a 3D maneuver gear bla_de._ I approached him as quickly as I could, determined to perform my duty._

_A huge thump announced the arrival of a fifteen meter class titan. I prepared for battle, knowing that I wasn't going to be able to walk away from this fight alive. I had already lost far too much blood. _

_But still. I had to try._

_A form raced past me, so quickly that had I blinked I would never have known. It was the boy that I had just resolved to save. He ran straight toward the titan, a strange type of sword in his hand._

_He was going to get himself killed!_

_I raced after him as best as I could, trying to hopefully catch up to him to save him. He was already at the fifteen meter's feet, slashing away. As I ran, it seemed that my movements were put into slow motion as I watched the fifteen meter suddenly snatch him up from the ground and lift him towards its mouth_

"Noooooo!" I yelled as I reached out toward the boy. But the scene before me was quite different now.

Instead of being in the outside world surrounded by titans, I was now back in my room in the Survey Corps HQ. Everything was the way it should be. My room in its normal untidy state,

I lazily sat there for a few moments, trying to wake up from the nightmare that I had just had. So strange...I wondered who that boy was and why he protected me.

_'It's just a dream.'_ I mentally reminded myself. _'He probably doesn't even exist.' _

As I tried to shake off the strange feeling that the dream had left behind, I looked at the clock. My heart thumped anxiously in my chest as I processed the time.

I was going to be late.

"Shit!" I panicked, snatching the covers off my body.

I hurriedly jumped out of bed and ran to my bathroom. My hand found my hairbrush, and I immediately started to yank it through my thick, brown curls. As soon as it was manageable, I braided it into a single braid and tied a hair tie in it. Then, I brushed my teeth while undressing from my night clothes, rapidly replacing them with a white button up shirt and my standard uniform pants.

I darted out of my room, slamming the locked door behind me as I rushed toward Levi Heichou's office. He was going to give me a strict punishment for being late to this meeting, especially my first.

After all, I was now an official member of his squad.

A week ago, the captain had contacted my older brother David, who was also my squad leader, about me joining Squad Levi. I honestly wanted to decline so I could stay with my little brother Kai and best friend Isabella, who were also in the squad, but David ordered me to go join the captain. It had been three days since I had seen any of them.

Just ahead lied the door to his office. And it was still open! I pressed on harder, trying to squeeze in before Levi Heichou came in.

All of a sudden, some dark haired boy was in front of me. He wasn't facing me, going in the same direction. I realized, however, that I was going to hit him.

My attempts to stop might have worked, had I not tripped on the carpet that

"Ahhh!" I shrieked as I came tumbling down. Unfortunately, the boy ahead of me was too close; I ended up taking him down with me. He spun around last instant and reached his arms out to try to catch me it looked like. But instead, he fell backward, and I landed on top of him.

"I'm sorry!" I apologized as I scrambled off of him in a hurry, my face burning bright red.

"It's fine..." he replied, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. He looked up at me and I almost staggered under the gaze of his bright green eyes.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Eren's P.O.V.<strong>_

I had no idea anyone had been behind me until I heard a gasp. That was when I spun around and saw the girl as she started to fall. I had reached out to catch but only ended up getting myself knocked down. She landed on top of me,

"I'm sorry!" I heard her say as she climbed up off of me. Putting a hand to where I had hit my head on the floor, I looked up at her to see hazel eyes staring into mine. She had dark brown hair that was pulled into a single braid that contrasted greatly with her pale skin. Except her cheeks had a pink tint, probably due to embarrassment though.

"Alright, you two shits." Levi Heichou suddenly said, bringing me back to the real world. "Both of you on night watch the rest of the week. Since neither of you seem able to get somewhere on time.

"But-" I protested, before Heichou cut me off.

"Want me to make it two weeks?"

I sighed in defeat. "No, sir."

"Didn't think so. Now go sit your asses down." He walked away to go to his own seat. Great. Now he was pissed at me, all because this girl had shown up late, getting me caught as well.

"Thanks a lot." I hissed at the girl as I rose to my feet.

"I said I was sorry!" She snapped back, sounding irritated. "It's not my fault that you're late, too."

"Well, if your klutsy ass hadn't tripped and tackled me, maybe Heichou wouldn't have said anything."

"Oh, so this is **my** fault?!"

"You said it, not me."

_"GET OVER HERE NOW SO WE CAN START THIS DAMN MEETING ALREADY!" _Heichou hissed at us.

I gave her a glare, and she returned the favor as we walked over to our seats. Hanji and Moblit were there, Hanji cackling at everything that had just happened while Moblit looked around nervously. Heichou just continued to shake his head in annoyance. To my embarrassment, Commander Smith was there, too. His expression was as stoic as ever as he stood up.

"Well, now that we're all here..." Commander Smith began. "I think I should let you all know that I've planned an expedition outside the walls within the month. We'll leave from the Karanese District and make a simple round in order to survey the area."

"Why are we doing that, Erwin?" Hanji asked curiously. "Is there another Titan shifter that we're going after?"

"No." He replied. "It's honestly just a simple scouting expedition."

Heichou snorted. "Then why'd you have bring this new brat into my squad?"

My mind went blank. _**She**_ was going to be in the same squad as me?!

'_Terrific.'_ I thought sarcastically to myself, giving a visible huff of irritation. Nobody noticed it, which was good for me; i didn't need to get myself in more trouble. My eyes glanced over to her quiet, still form.

"That's my second matter of business." Commander Smith responded. "This is Rachel Keefe, she'll be assigned to Squad Levi for the duration of this expedition."

"But why?" Heichou asked again.

"I just wanted to see if she could perform well on the level your squad is on, Levi. Her squad leader had faith in her skills."

"Her squad leader is her brother. Hell, her whole squad is either related to her or a childhood friend!"

"But none of those facts clouded their judgement. I looked up her training records as well. All their statements were unbiased when compared to her records." he turned to the girl...Rachel...to address her. "I asked for you because of how well you performed on 57th expedition, when we encountered the Female Titan. That was your first, correct?"

"Yes, sir." she replied.

"So you graduated with the 104th Training Corps, correct?"

"That's correct." she answered him. "Sir...how is any of my records relevant?"

The Commander looked over at her as he said, "I'm just curious about you as a new cadet in Squad Levi. That's all."

I wondered what the point of me being present was, because the rest of the meeting was filled with nothing but strategy and placement of soldiers. I grimaced when I heard that she and I were going to be in te same cell while riding, but I had no control over that so I just kept my mouth shut. But part of me wondered why she pushed my buttons so much when I had just met the girl for the first a fucking hour ago.

After the meeting was over, Commander Smith dismissed us. I crossed paths with Rachel as we exited. Heichou met us at the door way, telling us where to go for our punishment.

Shit.

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><p><em><strong>Rachel's P.O.V.<strong>_

"Get to guard duty, you filthy brats!" I heard my new superior officer yell at me as I slowed from my running.

I resisted the urge to curse him out, not wanting to be disciplined even further. In addition to his punishment of guard duty, he'd also made me run laps for two hours and clean the horse stables, which I had to do every day for two weeks. Not only that, but I had to do it with Eren.

That was punishment in itself.

I may not have twenty words to the boy, but I already thought of him as an ass. Ever since leaving the meeting today, he'd done nothing but do stuff just to irritate the hell out of me. There were a couple of times that I almost turned around and beat the shit out of him, but thankfully I didn't. And I say thankfully because almost always after I had resolved not to hit him, a superior officer would walk by. I didn't want more disciplinary actions against me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eren slow down beside me. Fortunately, he seemed too out of breath and tired to make any smart ass comments to me. We didn't come to full stop until we were standing in front of Heichou.

It was almost humorous that my new superior officer was shorter than me. But I wasn't going to dare say that out loud.

"You two can have a thirty minute break before you head on up." He told us. "But if your asses aren't up there in thirty minutes, you'll be cleaning the entire HQ for a month. Understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Eren and I responded simultaneously as we saluted. Heichou walked off, leaving us alone.

I didn't say anything to him, nor did he bother me. Instead, we walked off in the direction of the mess hall. Instead of going in the same door as him however, I decided to go in through the side, to avoid the temptation of decking him if he should say something.

My senses grew alert when I heard a familiar voice call my name.

"Rachel!"

My eyes scanned the mess hall until they focused on the two people coming toward me. The auburn haired boy was my little brother Kai while the girl with her dark hair tied back in a low ponytail was my best friend Isabella Rothschild. They both took in my exhausted expression, concern on their faces.

"What happened?" Isabella asked me.

"You look like crap." Kai said, not meaning to offend, just makig an observation.

"Well..." I answered. "I was late to that important meeting this morning and my new squad leader decided to teach me the importance of showing up on time."

It was childish, but I was half hoping at least one of them would say,_ 'Poor Rachel. Having to do all of that exhausting stuff.'_

But I knew exactly what was coming.

"I told you to set your alarm, didn't I?" Kai scolded me. "You never get up on time unless you do that. What have I-"

"Kai, please spare me the lecture." I interrupted. "I'm really not feeling good."

That silenced him. "You need to go eat something. You're pale as a ghost."

"I'm not honestly hungry." I told him, and for once my stomach didn't betray me by growling. "I just wanted to see you guys before I had to go on guard duty."

Isabella's eyes narrowed while Kai walked off. Probably going to get me some food anyway, despite what I just told him. "How much stuff are you having to do?"

I gave a halfhearted laugh. "Well, I had to run for two hours, and clean the stables. Which will be my punishment for the next two weeks."

"Ouch."

"That is not even the worst part, Izzy. I have to work with Jaeger."

She was silent for a minute. "The Titan shifting boy?"

"Yep."

"Huh."

"What?"

"I'm surprised that you're not excited about that. I mean, you did have a huge crush on him in training, didn't you?"

The sudden mention of that topic cause me to blush and go on the defensive. "Th-That was like...three years ago! I was stupid back then! W-Why are you bringing it up _**NOW**__?_"

Isabella looked at me, surprised but somewhat amused. "I was just making a statement. Calm down, Rachel."

_'I know that but still...'_ I thought to myself. My eyes wandered around, not resting until they coincidentally found a clock.

"Well, I better go." I told her. "Don't want to be late again."

She looked as though she wanted to stop me, but instead she just said, "Okay, see ya later." It probably looked as though I wanted to avoid that topic. Which was part of the reason, but honestly I did need to leave.

All of a sudden, my stomach rumbled. I groaned in aggravation at myself as I realized that I had forgotten to get something to eat. It didn't help that I had skipped the other two meals, too. But I would just have to shake it off until after guard duty.

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><p><strong><em>Eren's P.O.V.<em>**

"Mikasa, I'm fine." I told her as she tried to give me her bread. "You need to eat it, don't worry about me."

I knew she was worried. I must have looked like hell when I walked into the mess hall. I sure felt like hell, but after eating supper I regained a little energy. Hopefully, it would be enough to carry me on through night guard.

She continued to try and hand it to me. "Eren, you need more energy if you have to work more. I'll be going to bed soon, so I don't need it."

My stomach inconveniently growled a little.

I sighed in annoyance and defeat, taking the bread from her and tearing it in half. I began to eat one half while giving her the other back. "Thanks."

She seemed somewhat relieved that I had taken some of it. Across from me, Armin had finished eating and was reading a book. On what, I didn't know and I had been too tired and hungry to care. He looked up from it suddenly to join in the conversation.

"What did you do to make Heichou upset anyway?" he asked me.

"Well, I did...run late for the meeting this morning."

"Eren..." Mikasa sighed. I couldn't blame her for her annoyance; she **_did_** come by to wake me up on time. It's just that I went back to sleep after she left for her training.

"Hey! Heichou may not have even caught me if it hadn't been for the new girl in our squad!"

"There's a new squad memeber?" Armin repeated in a question. "Since when?"

"Since I found out this morning." I replied. "Anyway, she was later than I was. But she came in the door like a bat out of hell. Pratically tackled me when she tripped, too."

"Then Heichou punished you for being late, and you blamed her. Am I right?"

"Well..." I stumbled for words. When he put it that way..."Yes."

Mikasa and Armin sighed on cue. It really aggravated me sometimes when they did that. It almost felt like I was their kid that they kept having to steer in the right direction.

"Okay, fine!" I hissed, already knowing what was coming. "I'll apologize next time. You happy?"

My two best friends smirked at each other, giving me my answer.

"Umm, excuse me?" I turned around to see an auburn haired boy looking at me. He looked younger than us, which surprised me because I didn't think that soldiers were allowed to be any younger.

"Yeah?" I asked him.

"You're Eren Jaeger, right?"

"...Yes." I answered hesitantly, not sure where this was going.

"Oh, good." He sighed in relief before continuing. "Anyway, you have guard duty with my sister tonight. And...she left here without eating. Could you...take this to her? Please?"

He held out a small box for me to take. I studied him for a moment before asking, "Who's your sister?"

"Rachel Keefe"

I resisted the urge to say, '_Hell no, screw her'_ but the kid didn't seem like his sister. Shouldn't take it out on him. I took the box from him. "Yeah, okay. I will."

"Thanks." he replied, turning away to leave. Before he left us however, he warned me that I might want to hurry up and get going, to avoid more punishment. After looking at the clock, I took his advice.

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><p><em><strong><span>AN**__: So how is it? I don't know how well I'm doing. It's got nowhere near the eventful start the original did, but I'm hoping that this will make a lot more sense!_

_Anyway, gotta go! Bye!_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**__ Hello, readers! Here is chapter two! Kinda short but hopefully you'll like it! :D_

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><p><strong><span>Eren's P.O.V.<span>**

_'Dammit!'_ I internally thought to myself as I raced to my destination. I was late, VERY LATE this time. Heichou would have my ass.

With that thought, I continued to run as fast as I could, pushing myself hard until I finally was at the post I had been assigned. At first, I thought that I was home free. No superior officer in sight. That meant that I would be able to avoid any more running or cleaning or both.

Then I turned the corner, and Heichou was there.

Fuck.

He turned around to face me, annoyance and anger on his face. I knew I was in for it.

"S-sorry I'm late…" I huffed to my superior officer.

"Jaeger, I thought that you'd learn punctuality when I assigned you to night duty." Heichou chewed me out. "I swear I ought to..."

"Sir, it's not his fault." Rachel suddenly interjected, surprising me.

What the hell?!

"What's that, Keefe?" Heichou asked harshly. "Why is it not his fault?"

"Because I asked him to go tell my brother where I was." She lied without hesitation. "It's my fault, sir. He was only trying to help me. So don't blame him. Blame me, sir."

Heichou glared up at her for a few moments before answering. "Well then, Ms. Keefe. Your running has been doubled. I hope your feet like being sore."

She stood still, with an emotionless expression, as she replied. "...Yes, sir."

"I hope that next time this happens, you have the balls to admit your fault, instead of letting a woman take the fall for you." He whispered into my ear harshly. "Be a man, Jaeger."

He let go of my jacket and walked off, probably to go check on the rest of the guards. I was still in shock at everything that had just happened. I hadn't known this girl a day, and already treated her like crap. Yet, she just…took the punishment of my actions. I had no idea what to think of that as I watched her stand stiffly until Heichou was out of her sight.

"Great..." she groaned, relaxing her stance as soon as he was out of ear shot. Without another word, she walked over to our post, grabbing the rifle (it was standard equipment for guard duty). I followed behind her, still surprised at what she had just done.

"Why...did you...do that...?" I asked her as she walked over to our guard position.

"Do what?" she replied.

"Take…the blame. You just lied to him and let yourself take the punishment."

She turned around to face me, avoiding eye contact for a couple seconds before her hazel eyes looked into mine. "Well, there's no sense in us being enemies...is there?"

"No...I guess not. But you really didn't have to do that." I answered nervously, running a hand through my hair.

"I know. But you have to look after your comrades, right?"

"R-right…" I mumbled, looking after her as she stood against the railing. I decided that I should say something else and at least get to know my new comrade.

"Ummm, Rachel...wasn't it?" I asked uncertainly, not completely sure if I had remembered her name. I'd been to annoyed and sleepy to care when I had heard it this morning.

"Yeah. What is it?"

"Umm, I just wanted to...apologize for...this morn-"

"Don't worry about it, Eren." She interrupted me mid-sentence. "It's ancient history."

"But still…It's my fault. Wow. I just doubled your work…" I thought out loud, guilt making me feel bad. "Let me make it up to you. I'll come work with you so you can get done faster and you won't be alone."

"No." she told me, cheeks turning dark. "It's fine. I…I can do it alone!"

"Come on. It's the least I can do. Oh." I suddenly realized that I still had the box of food that I'd been asked to give her.

I handed it to her, and she took it with confusion on her face. "What's this?"

"Kai asked me to bring you some supper." I replied. "He handed me this box and said you didn't get to eat."

"Oh...well. Thanks a lot." She answered with a hint of a smile. "I was getting a little hungry."

Her stomach growled loudly in response. She blushed at the sound and turned away from me. I couldn't help but laugh.

"It looks like you're _really_ hungry." I replied with a smile.

"Sorry about that…" she muttered, still flustered. "I haven't eaten since last night."

"Huh?" I asked, somewhat surprised at what she had said. "Why haven't you eaten since then? You'll make yourself ill and weak if you keep doing that."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Please. Besides, I'd much rather be ill and weak than be called the 'human cow' again. And it rarely bothers me at all, not eating that is."

"Whatever." I mumbled. If she was going to be stubborn, let her. Anyway, why should I care? I just met her this morning.

I walked over to the railing of our post, looking out across the dark terrain with boredom. There was never anything exciting about guard duty at night. Why we even needed guard duty was a mystery to me. After all, the internal conflict between the monarchy and Military Police and the Survey Corps had been over for a few months. That incident with Rod and Historia Reiss still crystal clear in my mind...

I shook my head to snap out of that train of thought. All that I needed to focus on was to learn the hardening ability, seal the hole in Wall Maria, and go find whatever there was in my basement that my dad wanted me to find back in the Shiganshina district.

Easier said than done.

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><p><strong><span>Rachel's P.O.V.<span>**

I sat at our post quietly as I nibbled on the food that Kai had sent to me. While I ate, I occasionally looked over at Eren, for what reason I'm not certain.

He was humanity's hope…Though it was hard to believe. He was kind of small to be soldier (not that I have room to talk. He's larger than I am.). Hard to believe a 15 meter titan could come from him.

My thoughts drifted to the Female Titan we had encountered a while back, later discovered to be Annie Leonhardt. Though I had never even talked to her, I still found it hard to believe that she could have just…slaughtered humans like she had. She killed so many on the 57th expedition. I looked over to Eren, feeling sad for him. His entire squad had been killed by her, save for Levi Heichou and himself. No one actually saw it happen, and neither of them have even mentioned it. All we saw was the aftermath, the corpses of the former squad Levi. It was…gruesome.

Thinking about all of this brought my earlier questions back to the front of my thoughts. Why had Commander Smith sent me to join Heichou's squad? Yes, I always did my best on training and missions, but I was nowhere near as skilled as the people in Squad Levi. Most of them were in the top ten, except for Armin, Historia, and Ymir (before we learned she was a titan shifter and she ran off). But still they were strong in their own right.

"Hey, Rachel…" I heard Eren's voice suddenly call to me.

I looked up to meet his bright green eyes, looking at me with such intensity that I had trouble looking at them. It was probably just my wild imagination; his eyes were just naturally those kind of eyes.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"What do you think is out there?" he questioned me, throwing me off guard.

"Out where?"

"Beyond the walls." He explained while turning around to face the titan-controlled area.

"I don't know…" I answered truthfully. "But whatever there is, I hope I at least get to see it before I die."

There was silence for a long time before he finally commented. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll live long enough to explore the entire world."

"Why do you say that?"

"You're strong." He told me as explanation. "And you're smart. And you possess the will to do whatever you want."

I blushed in response. "How do you know all that? We just met this morning. Besides, none of that is me."

"Yes, it is." He argued in a calm voice. "And believe me, I notice more than you think I do."

"WH-what do you mean?" I demanded, flustered at the conversation. There was no real reason, but I couldn't help but feel my cheeks grow hotter and hotter.

The smile he gave me in response was knowing and cocky at the same time. He looked over at me as he replied.

"We were in training together, remember? During that time, I would study anyone that looked strong. I watched you one day and thought that I should practice hand-to-hand combat with you. I don't remember seeing you ever lose."

I snorted in response. "That's because I never went up against anyone who was extremely skilled at it."

"Then why don't we test you out?"

"Huh?" I asked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Tomorrow." Eren said in a confident voice. "You and I. Hand-to-hand."

"I'll….pass."

"What? Is Ms. Keefe here…_scared_?" he said in fake shock. "You survived three long years of intense training, fought and survived the Battle of Trost, and survived your first expedition which also included a new enemy to humanity. And you also somehow avoided capture from the Central MP during the conflict inside the walls. And now look at you. Scared to fight one single-"

"Please." I replied, getting irritated that he was mocking me now. "I could kick your ass any day, any time."

"Okay, then. Tomorrow before guard duty then." He arranged.

"Alright, it's a date." I agreed. "You're going down, titan boy."

"I'll pin you on the ground so fast it'll make you dizzy, Rachel." He commented with a smile on his while I turned away, blushing at his word choice. But I was going to have the last word.

"Just make sure you're not late again, Eren."


End file.
